2017 SUBARU LEGACY Recalls, Complaints & Safety

Major fuel leak within engine bay

The battery has died several times and had to be replaced over the years due to a likely slow drain issue that Subaru is well aware of and was part of a class action suit against them.

I drove into the parking lot of Walgreens, then drove around and pulled into a parking spot facing the south side of the building and put my foot on the brake to stop and park. Instead of stopping, the car suddenly lurched forward violently and slammed into the brick wall of the building. My wife called 911 since I told her my chest really hurt. When the police came, I told them my foot must have slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator, since I had no idea what else might have caused the car to accelerate like that. My wife drove the car home and then drove to the ER where the EMTs had taken me. A CT scan showed that I had a fractured sternum, since my chest hit the steering wheel full force after the air bags failed to deploy. I was in excruciating pain for a few weeks, and after I felt better, we submitted a claim to our insurance company. We then took our 2017 Subaru Legacy to a certified Subaru collision repair center. We were shocked to find that the car was totaled, since it was still drivable. Something kept bothering us about the crash, since EyeSight should have applied the brakes if I had accidentally accelerated and it detected a brick wall in front of our car. After some research, we stumbled on the information about the Class-Action Lawsuit that was just settled by Subaru for reports of Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA). The description of what happens with SUA was exactly what I experienced, but this was the first we had heard of it. We were never notified about the lawsuit, even though our VIN number shows our car was involved. Our Subaru dealership had all our contact information since we bought our Legacy from them and they have done all the maintenance work on it. Unfortunately, we released our car to Copart as part of our insurance settlement, so there’s no way to check the EDR data. PLEASE let others know about this major safety issue before anyone else is seriously injured!

Crash 1 injured

I drove into the parking lot of Walgreens, then drove around and pulled into a parking spot facing the south side of the building and put my foot on the brake to stop and park. Instead of stopping, the car suddenly lurched forward violently and slammed into the brick wall of the building. My wife called 911 since I told her my chest really hurt. When the police came, I told them my foot must have slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator, since I had no idea what else might have caused the car to accelerate like that. My wife drove the car home and then drove to the ER where the EMTs had taken me. A CT scan showed that I had a fractured sternum, since my chest hit the steering wheel full force after the air bags failed to deploy. I was in excruciating pain for a few weeks, and after I felt better, we submitted a claim to our insurance company. We then took our 2017 Subaru Legacy to a certified Subaru collision repair center. We were shocked to find that the car was totaled, since it was still drivable. Something kept bothering us about the crash, since EyeSight should have applied the brakes if I had accidentally accelerated and it detected a brick wall in front of our car. After some research, we stumbled on the information about the Class-Action Lawsuit that was just settled by Subaru for reports of Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA). The description of what happens with SUA was exactly what I experienced, but this was the first we had heard of it. We were never notified about the lawsuit, even though our VIN number shows our car was involved. Our Subaru dealership had all our contact information since we bought our Legacy from them and they have done all the maintenance work on it. Unfortunately, we released our car to Copart as part of our insurance settlement, so there’s no way to check the EDR data. PLEASE let others know about this major safety issue before anyone else is seriously injured!

Crash 1 injured

I drove into the parking lot of Walgreens, then drove around and pulled into a parking spot facing the south side of the building and put my foot on the brake to stop and park. Instead of stopping, the car suddenly lurched forward violently and slammed into the brick wall of the building. My wife called 911 since I told her my chest really hurt. When the police came, I told them my foot must have slipped off the brake and hit the accelerator, since I had no idea what else might have caused the car to accelerate like that. My wife drove the car home and then drove to the ER where the EMTs had taken me. A CT scan showed that I had a fractured sternum, since my chest hit the steering wheel full force after the air bags failed to deploy. I was in excruciating pain for a few weeks, and after I felt better, we submitted a claim to our insurance company. We then took our 2017 Subaru Legacy to a certified Subaru collision repair center. We were shocked to find that the car was totaled, since it was still drivable. Something kept bothering us about the crash, since EyeSight should have applied the brakes if I had accidentally accelerated and it detected a brick wall in front of our car. After some research, we stumbled on the information about the Class-Action Lawsuit that was just settled by Subaru for reports of Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA). The description of what happens with SUA was exactly what I experienced, but this was the first we had heard of it. We were never notified about the lawsuit, even though our VIN number shows our car was involved. Our Subaru dealership had all our contact information since we bought our Legacy from them and they have done all the maintenance work on it. Unfortunately, we released our car to Copart as part of our insurance settlement, so there’s no way to check the EDR data. PLEASE let others know about this major safety issue before anyone else is seriously injured!

Crash 1 injured

My 2017 Legacy is on it's 3rd windshield this year. I had impact damage on July 17th, had it replaced the first week of August, and it cracked without impact damage in October. Subaru refused to replace it under warranty and it was replaced through insurance in December. The genuine Subaru replacement windshields for 2015-2019 Legacy and Outback models appear to be defective and this should be investigated.

The OCS sensor is faulty and doesn’t detect a passanger and may cause the airbag not to deploy, this is common according to other Subaru owners. This is a common problem on many cars and those cars have been recalled

The catalytic converter has been replaced twice and is now needing a third replacement. The car emits gas fumes, unsafe emissions, and the fuel causes the mechanism to be extremely hot and unsafe. Over time, the car has had reduced gas flow and will stop running. The dealer has confirmed the three converters installed have been defective. The manufacturer, Subaru, was contacted to inspect the car but refused. Precious years have recalls of the fuel mechanisms. The check engine light stays on when unsafe emissions are detected.

The mirror drivers side mirror wiggles. I. The even of a battery failure the electrical brake may fail

The key frequently gets stuck in the ignition. It takes several attempts to release the key. Turning the wheel to ensure the wheel isn’t locked and turning the ignition/car on does not help release the key from ignition.

The key constantly stuck in ignition. Sometimes 10 minutes to get out. Then won’t start ignition Key broke off in ignition … your stuck with this situation that Subaru is pretending to not know about

Electric Power Steering failure

The HOOD LATCH Failed, and hood came up at 70 mph on interstate. This has caused extensive damage.

the key gets stuck in the ignition and you have to slide the shifter back in forth till it unlocks. I'm showing recall on other Subaru but not on mine ? or at least my year of car. why is that ? everyday its takes longer and longer to get the key to release.

Jan 2021 my battery died. So I called AAA and they were able to replace it. Then last year I received a notice of a problem with batteries. I submitted a claim with the SUBARU BATTERY SETTLEMENT. I submitted my receipts. They denied my claim stating that I did not use a Subaru authorized dealer AND that I did not notify Subaru 10 days PRIOR to the new battery. I am at a loss to understand how this Settlement is working. I did not anticipate the battery dying. I needed to be able to drive, so I called AAA who I think is generally reputable. Do people actually call the car manufacturer and wait 10 days to put in a new battery? This is a joke. I appealed and they denied it twice. How can this be??

On May 16, 2023 I was driving a friend home. We were stopped at a red light and felt an impact. My friend said, "You've been hit." I went out to check. No one had hit the car. It had lurched forward while my foot was on the brake. On 6/1/23 I pulled out of a driveway, car was in drive, foot on brake, paused to set GPS, car lurched forward. I brought to the dealer. They said they drove it for seven miles and could not duplicate the problem. About a year prior, the car had also lurched, but at that time I was in drive doing approx 30 mph, and I used the brake to slow it back to my speed. At that time the dealer found some leak in the transmission and, I believe, changed a gasket. These problems are intermittent and did not register on the car's computer, according to the dealer. Have you had any such complaint? Is my car safe?

The car had been going on several local stops. Car was in the middle of a main thoroughfare ready to turn on to interstate ramp when the car completely stopped functioning. Battery light came on briefly before the vehicle became completely non-responsive. Among other things non-functioning, Emergency lights would not work, electric park brake would not engage. Could not get out of car to flee danger as car would freely roll and no way to stop except to hold brake with foot pressed. Ultimately car was chocked and jumped by AAA tow truck. Technician said battery was dead but alternator was working when he started it up. After 3 days of diagnostics, Subaru dealer cannot find a fault which let the new auto battery simply drain to nothing state and thus make the car non-responsive. Thank the good Lord this did not happen after turning on to the interstate.

Hood released and blew open while doing 50 mph. After checking oil level, I closed and verified hood was latched, which it was. Driving about 2miles down road, hood blew up causing instant panic and stopping. After pulling over, I found that the hood would no longer latch. I had to use a hammer to bend the latch forward enough to have it latch again.

When i brought car in for an oil change. cam carrier leak, was reported to me that there was a cam carrier leak. When i look online there are countless reports of this. Seems like there could be something faulty with the engine. Subaru offered to cover the repair as a 1 time curtesy. But if there is an issue with the design of an engine then this should be looked at further. The rear brushings are also failing don't think this should happen so quickly, maybe faulty brushings. no warning lights.

The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, a loud popping noise was heard, and then a crack formed from the bottom of the windshield without impact. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the windshield needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the windshield needed to be replaced another time. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact stated that the failure reoccurred after she started the vehicle. The contact became aware of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V712000 (Visibility); however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and the contact was advised to file a complaint with the NHTSA Hotline. The failure mileage was unknown.

When running on a highway and you press down on the accelerator hard to merge onto a highway or go around a vehicle to move out of the way of vehicles quickly coming up behind you, the engine takes over and speeds up on its own. It has occurred three times on a newly purchased used car and it will increase speed up to 100mph. You have to press intermittently on the brakes to pull over to the shoulder and turn off the car for five minutes for the car to reset. If you try to just break, you get a burning smell. I see two class action lawsuits on similar acceleration issues for 2015 to 2017 Outback/Legacy series.

Vehicle's batter discharges to the point where the vehicle has to be jumped or battery charged up. The vehilce had two batteries replaced in a span of 6 months and after the last repalcement I checked the batter about one month later and found the battery dead, 11.7 volts, I recharged the battery and made an appointment with the Subaru dealer in Santa Fe, NM. They checked the battery, which I could have done, said I needed to drive the vehicle once or twice a week for an hour to maintain the battery. This is not consistant with other Subaru's and other vehicle I have owned and I remind you that this is a brand new battery. In looking online I did notice there have been some complaints about the battery and charging systems drawdown above the normal levels. Subaru would not check the drawdown level of the vehicle.

Driving to work in the morning I began slowing down for a red light. When the vehicle get to ten miles an hour there was a loud bang and felt like the car downshifting. I stopped and checked nothing was abnormal , no warning lights or and signs of damage or failure and the vehicle continued to function normally. So I proceeded to work roughly 20 miles. About 30 minutes later as I was on the off ramp and at about the same speed of 10 miles per hour the vehicle had multiple loud bangs followed but screaching and metal grinding. I was at my job so I pulled into the parking lot as to not get stuck in the road. The vehicle made one more louder bang and all the warning light illuminated and the vehicle lost all ability to drive. Underneath was a puddle off oil. This vehicle has 89,000 miles and to have thus happen to the transmission for no apparent reason was a shock and disappointment. I felt my heart drop as this morning could have ended alot worse while I was on the road and express way surrounded by other motorist. Transmission should not disintegrate or complete fail at this mileage unless they are defective. This was not what was expected in safety and durability from this manufacturer.

I have a problem of the car not starting several times now. If I do not drive it for several days the battery has to be jumped. I have purchased a jump starter to have in my car to make sure I am not stranded. If I do not have this I would be stuck. I noticed this after I bought the car and the dealer replaced the battery since it was under warranty in 2020. Now I have no warranty and the issue continues. I got a oil service last month at my dealership and my paperwork said everything is ok with my battery and connectors. I did not have the issue then since I was driving more. I noticed the other models have had the issue and got recalled for the part I think is called the (CAN ) that keeps the battery charged when it is parked. I believe the car has a problem I need to be checked. I told the dealership several years ago that I do not drive the car too much now and they told me to purchase a jump starter, but did not seem to take me seriously when I told them the car is still not starting when it sits for several days. I hope this is reported to the company too.

The car's battery does not recharge the battery adequately, or retain a charge for a reasonable amount of time. I have a jumpstarting device that I keep in the car because the battery dies so frequently. There are no after market parts in the car, or modifications apart from maintenance performed by Subaru.

Complete Battery drainage started when the car had about 30k miles. Batery was replaced around December 2020 at owners expense. Within a year the baterry drainage started happening again, randomly, after parking. Subaru dealer suggested to keep replacing baterry. Issue has not been reproduced by service department; it randomly happens. It has not been inspected by others.

Left town for 3 weeks and upon return the battery was dead. This happened the last time the car was not driven for several weeks, in Spring of 2020. A new battery was purchased at that time, even though the original battery was only ~3.5 years old. The current battery is only 2.5 years old and should be able to hold a charge for 3 weeks. Every time the car goes for an extended time without being driven, something in the electrical system drains the battery. Its very frustrating and time consuming to deal with.

Battery went dead had it charged - went dead shortly after. Replaced battery and within a year of replacing with a brand new battery it is dead again. Car was on side of the road where I parked it. There is a Class action suit on the battery life but if we need to keep doing this every year or so that is a problem. Called the dealer to see if there is anything they can do to alleviate the problem and they really have no answer. First battery lasted about 2-3 years Second battery lasted about a year and will probably go two with several jump starts along the way as was the case with the first.

Feb 2020 dead battery April 2020 dead battery April bought new battery 2020 April 2022 dead battery Oct 2022 dead battery

Unexplained battery drain on my 2017 Subaru Legacy. Had to jump the vehicle on two different occasions. Brought the vehicle to the dealer and was told I needed a new battery. Cost to me was $235.78. I now hear that there has been an issue with Subaru batteries and a class action lawsuit has been filed. How do I join the lawsuit or file for a reimbursement for the battery I had to buy?

Battery drains resulting in no start condition. Taken to dealer and they say all is fine but problem happens over again. On second battery and need to purchase a third now because of this issue.

Battery is draining and going dead even though battery and starter are new and battery is good. Needs to be jumped to start randomly, leaving me stranded. Has been happening for over a year despite battery replacement and starter replacement. No warning lamps or messages prior to failure, just won't turn over. Understand class action saying its a software problem, but Subaru never contacted us to correct this. Last time it occured is listed below

The battery frequently dies. Has had to be replaced multiple times. The mechanic has checked and doesn’t know why.

The contact owns a 2017 Subaru Legacy. The contact stated while attempting to remove the key from the ignition, the key remained stuck in the ignition. The contact restarted the vehicle, shifted to reverse and back to park, and was able to remove the key from the ignition. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic but the vehicle was not diagnosed. The mechanic stated that sometimes the key might get rusted, causing it to be difficult to remove from the ignition. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 68,000.

Battery draining. Car won't start

This vehicle has had two batteries replaced since it was bought in 5/2016. I believe is the same issue with the other newer models already in a lawsuit. I has left me stranded by failing to start without any warning, over four times because the car will charge work fine and then it died.

Driving on the highway all of a sudden my windshield cracked. It was due to stress nothing hit the window

Purchased the car used took to dealership for rattle from front end, they diagnosed and recommended replacement of steering rack as it was defective, so it was replaced, a month later same noise, same diagnosis, replaced again, repeated this 7 times and they have reconfirmed it is the rack, the dealership technician states it’s the rack and not as it should be. The manager however is trying to state now that it’s a normal noise and they won’t warranty the repairs anymore. It continues to get worse and louder and feels unsafe to have defective steering racks on the roadways that are non repairable. I’ve reached out to corporate Subaru as well and they can only make decisions based off info the manager gives them which is opposite of what the technicians state. Please help me this car is unsafe.

Windshield on this vehicle cracked for no reason.

Windshield glass cracks very easily from rocks. In the last year I’ve had 7 cracks form. I’ve never had this trouble with any other vehicle including a 2012 Subaru that I own and drive just as much. This impairs my vision and decreases the windshield integrity. I have claimed all windshield through my insurance and it has been very expensive. The only glass I can replace the windshields with is Subaru glass. The quality is very poor. I will upload the 2 most recent cracks.

My battery is constantly draining and having corrosion. I have replaced the battery 3 times in 5 years

TIRE SIZE - 225/50R19. MY 2017 SUBARU LEGACY HAS APPROXIMATELY 17,000 MILES. AS I HAND WASH MY CAR I NOTICED THAT ALL 4 TIRES HAVE SIGNIFICANT CRACKS ON THE SIDEWALL. I'M CONCERNED ABOUT DRIVING MY CAR ON THE HIGHWAY AND I OFTEN PICK-UP OUR 3 GRANDCHILDREN FROM SCHOOL WHICH ALSO CONCERNS ME. THESE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS BUT I'VE ALSO READ A FEW SIMILAR ISSUES ON THE GOODYEAR WEBSITE BUT THEY REFERRED TO THE PROBLEM AS DRY ROT? THANK GOD NO ACCIDENTS OR FLATS BUT I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE TIRES LOSING AIR. I JUST WANT PIECE OF MIND AND I WILL GO TO A GOODYEAR TIRE DEALER SOON TO GET THEIR OPINION. HOPE TO HEAR BACK FROM YOU SHORTLY. THANK YOU!